We have established Angels in Waiting to serve the thousands of abandoned, neglected and orphaned preemie infants and toddlers throughout the United States in the Foster Care System.  Frightened and lonely, they exist in hospitals, institutions, and group homes, awaiting the permanent homes and loving affection they so desperately need.

Sammy and Alexia are poster children for the Medically Fragile Foster kids in America whose lives the Angels in Waiting Foundation is dedicated to transforming.  Each of them started life in the Foster Care System, removed from troubled homes, indoctrinated into hospital settings and then transferred into group homes for the Medically Fragile.  They were all moved once again into home settings with registered nurses as their foster parents and then on to adoptive homes in which they could stabilize, recover, grow, and now flourish; their troubled pasts overshadowed by their hopeful futures.

There are countless other children whose lives we've touched and impacted in immeasurable ways whose identities are protected by HIPPA privacy laws.  While we cannot tell their stories publicly, they unfold in similar ways every day.

"Cory the Penguin" represents these abused, abandoned and forgotten Foster Care Children in America that have touched our lives and hearts.   Cory is an 9" tall Plush Baby Penguin character with a secret pouch in the belly complete with a tiny plush "Wishing Winged Heart" (the Angels in Waiting logo) and a "Foster-Adopt/Promise Card" to love him, feed him and keep him safe.

He is one of four characters (the frog, the dog, and the cat are the others)  created by Arrowhead Resources (www.arrowheadresources.net).  And are featured in a book entitled "The Wish" - a colorful 32 page adventure story picture book about four abandoned baby animal characters who are all  suffering from different disabilities.  The characters find and befriend each other during their mutual journeys to find homes where they'll be loved and cared for despite their special needs.  The story is written in simple, rhythmic, fun rhyming verse intended for reading to children ages two and up.

Warm and colorful illustrations of these irresistibly cute, sweet characters evokes sympathy as well as empathy for those less fortunate than ourselves and the desire to help the helpless.  Lightly metaphoric symbols and context relates to the plight of the Foster Care System's Medically Fragile infants and toddlers.

The moral of the story imparts hope, understanding, acceptance of differences, the importance of friendship and unconditional love.

Our children are the children who have inspired this tale.